What Risks Are Hiding in Your Data? Seven Scary Stories

A Patient's Medical History

There's a reason why medical organizations comply with industry regulations, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and it's not just because they'll face legal pressure if they don't follow regulations. A breach that targets medical records could put patients' private information in the wrong hands, and that could be hazardous to the health, well-being and safety of the facility's community.

The scariest stories are always rooted in facts. A tale about a monster in the local woods may seem laughable, but it can make your skin crawl if you've read about a string of strange disappearances in the area. Ghosts can seem like characters better suited for movies, until you hear people recounting firsthand experiences with seemingly supernatural forces. Any story is just a story until it gets a reality check.

In the IT and security world, scary stories come true when data breaches occur. Imagine the most private, sensitive elements saved on your company's servers and virtual infrastructure. If that information were targeted in a hack or stolen from your data center, it wouldn't just be your company affected. Beyond the legal ramifications and expense of data exposure, a security breach can put sensitive data belonging to your clients, employees and partners in the wrong hands – leading to issues with online fraud, identity theft and more.

As Halloween, the scariest time of year, approaches, your IT system might be in need of a dose of reality. In this slideshow, Perry Dickau, director of product management at DataGravity, has identified seven nightmare-inducing examples of private data that can be maliciously exposed to the public. What risks could be hiding in your dark data? And are you ready to take the steps to find out?

Perry Dickau is the director of product management at DataGravity. He is responsible for providing guidance on product direction and development, technologies, standards, best practices and industry trends for data governance, risk management and compliance. Perry brings more than 20 years of experience in product management to the DataGravity team, and previously served as a product manager at AvePoint and other technology leaders.